Reliving A Man
by SnakeSlinger
Summary: A lethal countdown starts for Jim after a freak accident involving the transporter. Don't forget to review!


Scotty sat in the transporter room, legs crossed lazily over his console, beside the knobs and livers that would beam Jim's landing party back up. It was late and he hadn't received any word from the Captain in an hour. He was starting to worry, yet again he knew Jim would get out of whatever he was in and he certainty wasn't going to suggest any sort of back up. He would do was sit and wait, maybe even snooze if he could.

"And this is what they call the final frontier. Figures" Scotty thought, his eyes shutting down on him.

As the weary engineer was ready for a nap, a buzz screeched through his ears. "Scotty! Beam me up! Now!" It was Jim, panicking like a madman.

"Aye Captain!" He responded hurriedly, sitting up wide awake. He pushed the liver down, hoping it wasn't too late to get the Captain back up in one piece. But instead of Jim or Spock appearing back on the pad, a red bolt of energy zoomed out of thin air, striking Scotty's console. Scotty cried in agony as the sparks flying out of the console gashed across his face, tipping him off his chair and onto the floor. It was only seconds later until Jim and Spock reappeared, exhausted with their shirts torn with bloody gashes. Regaining eyesight, Jim almost collapsed when he found Scotty rolling over across the floor in pain.

"Scotty!" He shouted, rushing over to his body and getting a hold. "What in god's name happened?!"

Scotty let go of his face, revealing a slight pinkish burn on his right cheek. "A phaser" He groaned. "A phaser beamed up and..." He could hardly get the words out. It felt as though someone had just clawed deep down into his face.

"And what?" Jim begged, shaking his body.

"And struck the bloody console!"

Jim gently lied Scotty's body down, turning to the console. "Those Klingon bastards!" The only thing Jim and Mr. Spock had expected on the habitable planet was a large colony of centaurian slugs to subdue and survey but found something rather provoking; a legion of Klingons mercenaries awaiting for them. They fled into a cave, where they too late to blast them to bits, instead making for Scotty. Mr. Spock joined Jim as he examined the busted console.

"Captain I believe it is unsafe to extend any closer to the damaged console" Spock said, grabbing Jim's arm to catch his attention.

"And why is that Mr. Spock?"

Awaiting a clever response, a bubbling green ooze gushed from underneath the console, melting it's way through the floor. Jim lunged back fearfully, his eyes widening with shock. "Never mind that"

Without making any contact, Mr. Spock tilted his head forward to carefully observed the ooze, it's lively stirs dying away. "Captain, the phaser beam's speed accelerated so quickly, it streamed through the first signs of electromagnetic particles, seconds before us"

It was Mr. Spock's handy conclusion brought Jim to his taring revelation he wished wasn't true. "We were beamed up...improperly"

Spock regretted to assure it. "Yes Captain"

Jim sucked in his last breath. "Call in Dr. McCoy and have Mr. Scott retrieved and aided in Sickbay"

"Yes Captain" Spock stood up and reached the intercom, pressing against it "Dr. McCoy, we are in need of your assistance". The doctor arrived to take care of the engineer in seconds flat, waving his face with a K3 Monitor as they took him away to sickbay. It all happened so fast and for one thing Jim decided it's all he would have any longer, placing Mr. Spock in command so that he could get some sleep. He was even too lazy to take off his uniform, instead dropping onto the bed to snooze off. After half an earthling day, Mr. Spock was growing anxious about Jim's condition and if the transporter had anything to do with it. He highly doubt it, as his own visit to sickbay proved no evidence of any alteration. Mr. Spock stepped down as acting Captain, placing an eager Sulu in charge to man the ship. Exiting from the turbolift, Mr. Spock lurked through the passageways, coming up to Jim's quarters. The entrance sled open, the Vulcan entering quietly. He found a teenage boy lying on his bed, snoring away in the Captain's uniform. "State your identity" Spock demanded loudly.

"What was that?" The teenager grumbled, getting up to stretch his bony arms out and let out a good yawn. Cracking his fingers, he switched on the lights to take a better look at his little "intruder". "Mr. Spock, rise and shine!" He said with a smile.

"State your identity. And I also request you to inform me how you know my name" Spock ordered, displeased with a hoonigan sneaking into the Captain's quarters and trying on his uniform for what humans call "fun and giggles"

"What the hell are you talking about Spock, it's me! Jim, your Captain" The teen delivered.

Spock's eyebrows surged. "That cannot be. You appear to be an adolescent"

The teen clutched Spock from both shoulders, glaring into his eyes with obvious discomfort. "Are you out of your mind?! Adolescent?!" The teen was positive he was James Tiberius Kirk. "I'm your full grown Captain, Spock! Have been for the past three years!"

Mr. Spock gulped. "I suggest you use the mirror, supposed Captain"

The teen shook his head disapprovingly, stepping before the mirror and leering into his reflection. "I can't believe it" He muttered, stumbling to the floor hysterically. "I can't believe it" Jim's fear had just become a reality, a dreadful one. The teen's horrid reaction was that of a realization for Mr. Spock.

"The transporter transformed you into a boy, Captain"

Jim was amazed by Spock's meaningless assertion. It were as if Spock had witnessed it a thousand times before. "I know that! Just look at me! I'm what? Fourteen, fifteen years old?" Jim didn't know what to think or where to begin at all. He felt numb and empty inside. "Call Bones!" He hollered, climbing back onto his bed.

"As you command" Spock called the Doctor through the quarter's belonging intercom. "Dr. McCoy. Your assistance is once again a virtue"

"Jesus. They won't pay me enough" Bones yapped. Bones dropped in, not even bothering to ask the slightest thing on his mind. "A kid, huh?" Bones smacked his lips. "Oh look, he's playing Captain with his little Vulcan friend too. Oh how nice"

"Doctor, the adolescent you are referring to is the Captain, James Tiberius Kirk" Spock explained.

At first Bones thought he was joking yet again when has Spock ever joked around. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Mr. Spock lifted Jim from the back, straightening him up still. "Although not evident at the moment, I conclude the damaging of the transporter has altered the Captain's reconstructed cells"

Bones was getting fed up. He was stuck with a rambling Vulcan and a scared teenager that was lying the floor. "Dammit you green blooded dictionary, I'm a doctor not a-"

"An engineer" Spock finished. "I am aware of that. As you are growing frustrated, I shall explain.

Bones wasn't enjoying the idea of being a student, taught by this hobgoblin as if he were the same age as the so called "captain". "Go ahead, explain" He said, grating his teeth.

"When the phaser was caught by the particle signatures of the transporter, it beamed up and eminently damaged the control console led by Mr. Scott. Once the damaged, the pattern buffer was disabled, releasing a dangerous amount of matter stream which reorganized the Captain's matter incorrectly, causing his anatomy to dysfunction and presumably age backwards"

Bones realized he had just come down for no actual reason. "So explain to me First Officer, why exactly was I called down here?"

A smirk almost appeared on Mr. Spock's face, finding Dr. McCoy's irritation amusing. "Besides that fact that I just discovered the reason for this anomaly, I expect you to examine Jim and provide a further conclusive reasoning"

"He got you that time" Jim said, grinning.

"Oh good a thirteen year old James Kirk. Twice the annoyance than usual. How pleasant is that?" McCoy asked.

" Actually a lot, Bones" Jim shot back. He enjoyed it when Bones lost a little fight, just to let him rethink his snotty comebacks.

"Oh brother. I'll be in the infirmary if any HUMANS need me" Bones remarked, eyeing Mr. Spock as he left the room.

Spock turned to Jim. "Well Captain, you seem to be enjoying these chain of events"

Jim chuckled. "Well Spock, when you get the chance to be young and alive again, you don't usually hate it"

"What if you were to remain in this state?" Spock questioned.

Jim sighed "I won't"

"How are you so sure Captain?" Spock asked. Sometimes he doubted if he were actually half human. He couldn't agreed with the guessed confidence humans did-it just didn't occur with him.

Jim smiled. "Because I've got you, Spock"

"Logical"

* * *

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